


did I ask?

by yawnralphio



Series: Fictober20 [20]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Gen, cold showers aren't for the faint of heart, fictober20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:14:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27127726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawnralphio/pseuds/yawnralphio
Summary: Buck ignores Eddie's good faith efforts, and pays for it.
Series: Fictober20 [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967260
Comments: 3
Kudos: 40





	did I ask?

Eddie was used to taking cold showers. In the Army, they were lucky if the water wasn't ice cold on deployment, which was surprising given that most of his tours had been in the desert. The irony of spending all day in record high temperatures, and having no hot water to warm up with when the heat died off at night.

In Texas, half the people he knew took cold showers. The dry heat of the plains baked all day long, and a cool shower at the end of the night was the perfect sendoff. Los Angeles was a lot like El Paso - not quite as hot, a bit more humid thanks to the ocean next door - and so cool showers were still a regular occurrence for him.

The day the water heater gave up at the station wasn't a big deal to him. The water descended quickly from hot to warm to chilled in the span of a minute, but he wasn't too bothered by it. He rinsed the soap from his body and ducked his head under the spray one final time before shutting off the faucet.

Cold showers were good for sore muscles, too. He grabbed his towel and dried off as quickly as he could. The downside to cold showers was the lack of steam warming the air around wet, exposed skin.

He got dressed and exited the locker room to investigate the lack of hot water. Nobody else had showered during their shift, which meant there was likely something wrong with the heater. He wasn't surprised to find Hen standing in front of it, alternating between frowning at the ancient looking heater and the phone in her hand.

She looked up as he drew closer, eyeing his wet hair.

"I think it's busted," Hen said, gesturing at her phone. "I was doing the dishes from lunch and it just went ice cold."

"Yeah, I was in the shower," Eddie said, nodding his agreement. "Anybody around here good with pipes?"

Hen gave him a sympathetic look and shook her head. "Guess I'll go tell the captain." She sighed and they both turned, heading back the way he'd come.

They split off when Eddie spotted Buck making a beeline for the shower room, a towel slung over his shoulder. He'd still been working out when Eddie finished, and his sweat dampened shirt clung to him as he walked.

"You tell him," Hen said, taking the stairs two at a time to go look for Bobby.

Eddie rolled his eyes and jogged to catch up to Buck. "Hey, you might want to wait on this one," he called out.

Buck stopped and turned to look at him.

"Just shower when you get home, there won't be any hot water."

"There's always hot water," Buck scoffed at him.

"Yeah, but this time there's not." Eddie narrowed his eyes. "I was just in there, man."

"What are you talking about? Nobody's showered except for you. Are you trying to tell me you used all of it?" Buck laughed and shook his head. He turned his back on Eddie and pushed through the door to the showers.

"Okay, champ." Eddie rolled his eyes. "If you want a cold shwoer, be my guest." He followed Buck through the door, almost giddy with anticipation. He'd be damned if he missed out on the look on Buck's face when he was proved horribly, horribly wrong.

Eddie leaned against the wall and folded his arms. He wouldn't have to wait long. Buck undressed behind the dividing wall and hung up his towel, throwing a disbelieving look at Eddie.

"You gonna watch?" He teased, and Eddie shook his head.

Buck shrugged and reached for the hot water knob, turning it as far as it would go.

A second later, the harsh blast of freezing cold water wiped the smug look right off his face. He yelped and hopped out of the stream's way, fighting to catch his breath. Eddie knew from experience that the shock of it would pass and did nothing to ease it. Buck ran his hand over his face, wiping water out of his eyes, and then slapped at the knob to turn off the water.

He snatched his towel off the hook and wrapped it around his waist, still dripping wet as he came around the partition and stalked toward Eddie.

"The water heater's busted," Eddie said finally, unable to hold back his smirk.

"Did I ask?" Buck snarled, walking right up to him. Water dripped from his hair and off his nose, but he still smelled like a heavy workout. "You could have…" he bit back the rest, blue tinged lips pressing into a line.

"Warned you?" Eddie finished for him. He raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Shut up," Buck seethed, turning on his heel. The shivering began to set in, all the warmth leeched right out of him. He walked back to the stall with his pile of clothes and made a face at them.

"So dramatic," Eddie muttered. There was much more teasing to do, but he could tell he'd made his point, and Buck was nowhere in the vicinity of being in the mood for it. He retreated to the safety of the hallway and then the locker room to retrieve his things. He passed by Hen on his way to the parking lot and she showed him the sign warning the rest of the crews about the lack of hot water.

"Buck's on the warpath, be careful," Eddie told her, nodding at the door to the showers.

"What, you didn't tell him?"

Eddie gave her a look, the same one he'd received from her hundreds of times. She clicked her tongue in understanding.

"He didn't listen," she guessed, shaking her head.

Buck emerged before he could answer her. He wore only his running shorts, the rest was bundled together under his arm.

"When is the last time we ran out of hot water?" he demanded as he stepped through the door. He looked between them and grunted in disgust when he realized he'd find no sympathy.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://yawnralphio.tumblr.com).
> 
> Reblog [here](https://yawnralphio.tumblr.com/post/632541378364211201/20-did-i-ask-fox-911-eddie-was-used-to).


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